In Revolution of the Word, Jerome Rothenberg introduces Louis Zukofsky’s Objectivist poetics by stating that it entails “[n]ot a polarization into object/subject but a dialectic” (239). Unfortunately, Rothenberg offers no further commentary regarding this conception of “dialectic,” and his nebulous use of the term fails to say much about how readers should approach works like … Continue reading The Dialectical Objectivist: Louis Zukofsky’s “Mantis” Poems
William Rossetti: The Brit Who (Basically) Saved Walt Whitman from Obscurity
One of the primary attractions to Whitman for critics and readers on both sides of the Atlantic was his essential other-ness, his status as an outsider representing an image of America that promoted England’s former colonies as a land of untrammeled freedom, a natural wilderness replete with opportunities to ignore the established conventions of decorum … Continue reading William Rossetti: The Brit Who (Basically) Saved Walt Whitman from Obscurity
Poetry, Politics, and Wilco
I wonder why we listen to poets When nobody gives a fuck —Wilco, “Ashes of American Flags” In “Ashes of American Flags,” Wilco engages in a project akin to that of the language poets from the 1960s and 70s: the juxtaposition of artistic sentiment with capitalist ideology as a means of critiquing a prevailing social … Continue reading Poetry, Politics, and Wilco
tom jesse 